In the time of the Mishnah and Talmud, the Halachic tradition was passed down orally, from teacher to student. The canonization of the Talmud in written form provided new pathways for the dissemination of Rabbinic teaching, and by the time of the Tosafists (12th-13th c., northern France), influential Rabbis were asserting the right to teach and even to contradict local Rabbinic authorities. In this episode, Gavin and Jordan discuss the cultural environment that made this possible, and some of the prominent figures who advocated for a massive change to the transmission of Judaism. 

Read the original article at http://www.kotzkblog.com/2020/09/293-tosafist-perspective-we-have-books.html